#Autism:Teaching life lessons with toilet paper

I fully realize that the title of this post may sound really weird but it really isn’t. I want to share with all of you and encourage all of you at the same time, to please take things like this to heart.

You’re probably wondering how in the world can you use toilet paper to teach a life lesson. I’m going to show you in the video below. Let me set the stage…..

Bella, our Boxer puppy, got into the toilet paper the other day. It was horrible. Toilet paper was absolutely everywhere, but mostly isolate to my bedroom…..but I digress.

That is what created the need to go to the store and inspired the video below.

Basically, I took Gavin to the store and asked him to buy a package of toilet paper with the five dollar bill I put into his hands. He was up to the challenge and this is what transpired. My goal was to film him throughout the entire process but my phone rang before we went up to the register and so I missed him actually making the purchase.

So what’s the point

The point is that navigating a store and deciding on a purchase is something that many of our kids with #Autism are going to need to know. Going into this situation, with a set amount of money, requires use of math and reasoning skills. What makes this so cool is that, this touches on so many life skills. Gavin needed to use several skills but the main ones are listed below.

Skills used:

1) Social

2) Math

3) Reasoning

4) Problem solving

Not only did he get to practice these skills but he also built up some confidence and increased his self-esteem. While it wasn’t an easy process for him, he didn’t get frustrated and saw it through to the end.

I would encourage you all to exercise your parental/guardian teaching muscles. This type of lesson can be taught in just about any real life situation. The key to this is that you are there to provide support, safety and encouragement as they work their way through a real life problem.

These skills will be needed all throughout life and can be practiced in only a few minutes.

Please remember that you are your child’s most important teacher. Never underestimate the impact that a few minutes can have on your child’s life. 🙂

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